The three appeals judges who heard FCC v. Comcast expressed skepticism that the commission had ancillary authority to find the company had violated net neutrality principles in blocking peer-to-peer file transfers (CD Aug 4/08 p1). Judges at the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit pressed FCC General Counsel Austin Schlick Friday to cite a statute that gave the regulator direct authority over an ISP’s network management. Comcast’s lawyer was challenged to show how the company was harmed by the commission’s order against it, since no fine was imposed.
David King elected New Mexico Public Regulatory Commission chairman for 2010, replacing Sandy Jones … New at Wiley Rein: partners William Consovoy and Brandon Pinkard; of counsel Thomas McCarthy; special counsel Joan Stewart … Dean Olmstead and David Rayner resign from TerreStar board … Sinclair Broadcast names John Dittmeier, ex-WWLP-TV Springfield, Mass., general manager of WTWC-TV Tallahassee … World Wrestling Entertainment promotes Andrew Whitaker to head of WWE International … Arbinet names Brian Troesch, ex-Belgacom, senior vice president, product and business development … Jamie Hedlund, leaving CEA Jan. 15 (CD Jan 5 p10), becomes ICANN vice president, government affairs for the Americas on Jan. 25.
FCC staffers are thought to be preparing items on at least six media-related issues as the commission looks beyond the Feb. 17 deadline for the National Broadband Plan, commission and industry officials said. The first expected to be released publicly is an order that Media Bureau staff are working on to allow radio stations to raise their digital power levels (CD Nov 10 p8), several officials said. Most of the other items -- some which have been contentious outside the FCC -- are expected to be released this quarter or next, they said.
NTIA and RUS sought comment Tuesday on how to change their broadband stimulus programs to deal with complaints by applicants and members of Congress. The agencies also said the two planned funding rounds remaining will be combined. The actions had been widely expected, but some observers said they were surprised by how comprehensively the agencies are taking up concerns and complaints.
Broadcasters have raised privacy and other concerns with the Office of Management and Budget over proposed changes in way the FCC collects broadcast ownership information. The changes are meant to help the commission get a better picture of broadcast ownership by minorities and women. But the exact changes to the form weren’t published until the FCC submitted them for OMB review in August, after the commission’s deadline for public comment on the changes. When broadcasters saw the new Form 323, they became worried about the amount of time it would take to fill out and the risk that it will force licensees to collect sensitive personal information from investors, NAB lobbyists told Media Bureau Chief William Lake and other bureau officials Sept. 17, an ex parte filing shows.
The FCC sometimes doesn’t make letters between it and Congress public because the agency has no automatic way to do so, Communications Daily has learned. Most of the letters we reviewed under a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request didn’t appear in docket files where they would be accessible to the public. Sometimes letters aren’t there because they don’t address specific rulemakings, but we couldn’t find in dockets some letters between the agency and Congress that are germane to particular rulemakings.
New at LTE startup AirHop Communications: Garrett Choi, ex-Continuous Computing, as chief operating officer; Jerry Hall, ex-PriveSec, as vice president-marketing; Anand Parikh, ex-Cartiza Networks, vice president-business development … Additions to Wiley Rein communications practice: Former associate William Consovoy returns as partner after clerking for Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas; Claire Evans, ex-clerk to Justice Thomas, associate; Brendan Carr, ex-clerk to 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals Judge Dennis Shedd, associate; and Michael Connolly ex-clerk to 10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals Judge Jerome Holmes, associate … Ikanos names Debajyoti Pal, ex-Tallwood Venture Capital, chief technology officer … Matthew Wood, ex-Hogan & Hartson, joins Media Access Project as associate director.
Many communications CEOs are heading to the FCC to meet with Chairman Julius Genachowski, and in most cases other commissioners, we hear from commission and industry officials. A few have filed ex parte letters after making the trip. In general, Genachowski’s message has been the same, an FCC official said: The chairman’s office does not want to short-circuit the standard procedures, and the executives first need to make their cases on specific issues to the bureaus and other FCC staff.
Hundreds of applicants for new digital low-power TV and translator stations filed paperwork with the FCC this week after a filing window opened Tuesday (CD Aug 18 p6). The first-come first-served application process also prompted some existing licensees to modify or reapply for construction permits, said Chairman Byron St. Clair of the National Translator Association. “A lot of translators in the last couple of weeks crawled out of the woodwork and decided to file an application to flash cut to digital.” Had they waited, those stations could have been displaced by new entrants.
The NTIA announced Thursday that applicants who couldn’t file supporting documents for applications for grants under the Broadband Technology Opportunities Program have until 5 p.m. Monday to send the papers by hand-delivery, overnight express or regular mail. The system generally seemed to work well Thursday, the last day for first-round applications.